THE GOLDEN COMPASS (A-2, PG-13): Twelve-year-old orphan
Lyra (Dakota Blue Richards)
lives at Jordan College in Oxford, England,
while her uncle and guardian,
Lord Asriel (Daniel Craig, Casino Royale),
is exploring the north. Lyra’s friends
include Roger (Ben Walker), Billy Costa
(Charlie Rowe) and other urchins who
run wild through the city streets.
Roger and other poor children
start disappearing, taken by Gobblers.

When Lyra’s uncle returns, after
discovering a mysterious matter
called dust, the girl thwarts an attempt
on his life, aided by her
animal-shaped spirit daemon, Pan
(voice of Freddie Highmore, Finding
Neverland).

Mrs. Coulter (Nicole Kidman, The Hours), a beautiful scholar,
invites Lyra to go to London
to help her prepare for a voyage to
an experimental science station in
the north. The master of Jordan
College (Jack Shepherd) secretly
presents Lyra with an Alethiometer (a
golden compass), which she must keep
in her possession and learn how to read
because it will always tell her the truth.

Lyra learns that Mrs. Coulter is part
of the Government Oblation Board
(GOB), an office of the controlling Magisterium.
The GOB wants to get hold of
the golden compass.

Lyra flees Mrs. Coulter and is rescued
by the friendly Gyptians, who
take her to the north to find her missing
friends. Lyra enlists the help of Lee
Scoresby (Sam Elliott, We Were Soldiers),
an aeronaut from Texas, and Iorek
(voice of Ian McKellen, The Lord of the
Rings), an armored polar bear. They are
accompanied by benevolent witches,
led by Serefina (Eva Green, Kingdom of
Heaven).

Lyra and company go into action
when they discover that the GOB is
trying to separate the children’s daemons
from them surgically so that they
will no longer be able to think for themselves
and will then do whatever they
are told.

The Golden Compass is a faithful cinematic
interpretation of the first of
Philip Pullman’s trilogy, His Dark Materials,
inspired by John Milton’s epic
theological/scriptural poem, Paradise
Lost. Since Book I, The Golden Compass,
was first published in 1995, it has
won numerous awards and simultaneously
caused a broad range of debate.

Some of this controversy is due not
only to the author’s professed atheism
but also to how some understand the
worldview of Pullman’s fantasy to target
the Catholic Church, especially use
of the term Magisterium (used almost
exclusively by Catholics to describe the
teaching authority of the Church) and
the seeming killing of God in Book III,
The Amber Spyglass.

The seamless and spectacular animation
and special effects in this film
are sure to garner awards. Talented newcomer
Dakota Blue Richards is
winning as the brave and strong
Lyra. Nicole Kidman is frighteningly
chilling as Mrs. Coulter.

The mysterious dust is self-awareness
or consciousness; the
daemons are the outward manifestation
of the soul that makes
people human. The film deemphasizes
the role of religion
found in the books (only once do
we see a building adorned with
icons) and proposes that the contest
is between the exercise of free
will and an all-powerful, totalitarian
organization or person who
abuses power.

It is an exciting and intelligent
film that thoughtful parents may
want to see with their young teens so
that they can talk about these issues
together.

Will youngsters want to read the
books if they see the film? Perhaps,
which is why parents who are engaged
in their children’s media world will
take this opportunity to experience the
books and film together: Ask questions
and talk together about the meaning
and use of history, literature and theology
in the narratives. That’s not an
easy assignment, but just saying no is
not a valid educational option in the
age of mass-mediated storytelling. Some
intense fantasy violence.

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL (A-2, PG-13):
Lars (Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson) moves
back into his family home in Minnesota
with his brother, Gus (Paul Schneider,
Elizabethtown), and Gus’s pregnant wife,
Karin (Emily Mortimer, 30 Rock). Lars lives in the garage and cannot stand to
be touched: His mother died giving
birth to him and his father never overcame
his grief.

A co-worker shows Lars a porn Web
site where he can order an anatomically
correct life-sized doll. When the doll
arrives, Lars names her Bianca. He introduces
Bianca to Gus and Karin as a
Brazilian-Danish missionary who
doesn’t speak much English and is confined
to a wheelchair. The churchgoing
Lars tells them that it would not be
proper for his female friend to stay
with him in the garage. Karin, with
wisdom and kindness, decides to play
along and moves Bianca into the guest
room.

Gus is embarrassed by his brother’s
delusional behavior and Karin is concerned.
They convince Lars to bring
Bianca to Dr. Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson,
The Station Agent). As an excuse for her
and Lars to talk, Dr. Dagmar says that
Bianca has a condition and sets up
weekly treatments.

The entire community goes along
with Lars’s make-believe because they
recognize his fragility. They include
Bianca, and therefore Lars, in everything.
When Bianca is elected to the
school board, things begin to change.

This film can be read on so many
levels, especially that of family relationships,
forgiveness and healing, fear,
human, spiritual and social development,
empathy and generosity. It is also
about the function of play in our lives
and how we learn to integrate our lives
by exercising our moral imaginations.

In what could have easily been a
farce of a film, director Craig Gillespie
(Mr. Woodcock) and writer Nancy Oliver
(Six Feet Under) show us that as Lars
learns to live, so do we. A loving celebration
of community; my favorite film of
the year, so far.

AMERICAN GANGSTER (L, R): In the 1970s,
Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington, The
Manchurian Candidate) takes over as the
drug lord of Harlem. He demolishes
the competition by setting up shipments
of heroin directly from Southeast
Asia through military flights, cutting
out the middlemen and selling directly
on the street. Frank is brutal and kills
competitors without remorse.

Meanwhile, the very honest Detective
Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe, Cinderella
Man) heads a task force to
identify, find and convict the source
of this new brand of drugs.

Based on the true story, this film is
ably directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator).
This strong biopic is extremely violent,
showing consequences on everyone
involved, which makes the world of
Frank Lucas exceedingly unappealing—as it should. It falters at the end, however,
when the narrative logic gives
way to the Hollywood celebrity: Instead
of the criminal Lucas, we see the
likable Denzel Washington. Graphic
criminal violence and some problem sexuality.

THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT
(HBO, check local listings): In
1984, Darryl Hunt, a young,
homeless black youth in Raleigh, North
Carolina, was arrested and convicted
of the rape and murder of a young
newspaper woman. Over 20 years and
several trials later, the efforts of his
attorneys, The Innocence Project and
both white and black members of
the community paid off: The real perpetrator
was found. He confessed and
was convicted, and the exonerated
Hunt was freed.

This fascinating documentary about
one man’s journey to freedom reveals
the systematic presence of racism and
flaws in police procedure and the justice
system. It happens far too often
in our society. Some graphic images.

BEE MOVIE (A-1, PG): Honeybee Barry
B. Benson (voice of Jerry Seinfeld) flies
off to explore his options beyond the
hive and ends up suing humans for eating
the honey that bees work so hard to
produce. There’s excellent voice acting
by Renée Zellweger, Kathy Bates, Chris
Rock and others. Sweet pro-environment
animated entertainment for the
young set, but I was stung to discover
that it wasn’t nearly as funny as all the
buzz would have us believe.

LIONS FOR LAMBS (L, R): An arrogant,
ambitious senator (Tom Cruise) plants
a story with a veteran journalist (Meryl
Streep) about a new military strategy
in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, a political-science
professor (Robert Redford)
tries to convince a student to live a
meaningful life. More rhetoric than
entertainment; an unsettling commentary
on the reinforcing dynamic
between the news media and politics;
intense battle scenes.

THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK (not rated): In 2004, former U.S. Marine
Captain Brian Steidle photographs
events in the Sudan for the African
Union. Steidle goes to Darfur, where the
Janjaweed, a militia branch of the
Muslim Arabic-run Sudanese military,
are destroying villages and wiping out
Christian and animist black-African populations.
Oil exports to China and the
struggle for land and water, as well as
religious conflict, contribute to the
tragedy. Steidle returns to the U.S. to
lobby for protection of the people of
Darfur. This bold and heartbreaking
documentary is a call to action to prevent
another mass genocide, as happened
in Rwanda. Graphic war images.